


"YOU NEED TO WAKE UP BECAUSE I CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU.”

by CraveyQueen1



Category: Newsies, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, newsies musical
Genre: Compulsions, Crying, Grief, M/M, Mental Illness, OCD, Sad, hurt comfort, trama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4268571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CraveyQueen1/pseuds/CraveyQueen1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Davey is hurt Crutchie reveals something to Katherine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"YOU NEED TO WAKE UP BECAUSE I CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU.”

“Hey, Mr. Morris.” Mrs. Larson ducked her head in Crutchie’s classroom.   
“Hey.” Crutchie packed up the last of his marking.   
“Do you want a ride to Pat’s for the Christmas party?”  
Crutchie checked his watch. “No thanks, not going.”  
“Why not?”  
“Visiting the hospital.” Crutchie snuck a glance at the wall clock.   
“Why-oh. How’s he doing?”  
“A little better.” Crutchie ran his hand over the handle on his crutch. “Thanks for asking.”  
“Alright, well I’ll see you after the break.”  
“Right, have fun tonight.”  
-  
Crutchie hurried into the elevator as his watch read 3:56.  
“Come on.” He whispered to the button for the fourth floor.   
A young couple walked into the elevator.   
“Which floor was it?” the man asked.  
“I think it was the third floor. Right?”  
“I thought it was the second.”  
Crutchie looked at his watch.   
“Third.” The woman pushed the button.  
Crutchie relaxed his shoulders.   
The elevator rode up and opened its door. The couple walked out and the doors started to close.  
“Wait, no.”   
A hand stuck in and stopped the door.  
The couple walked back in.  
“It was the fifth floor.” The woman told Crutchie while she pushed the button.  
Crutchie smiled and nodded.   
The elevator closed and Crutchie checked his watch again. He had one minute.  
The elevator ascended once more and opened on the fourth floor.   
Crutchie rushed out and down the hall. He held up his visitors pass as he passed the reception desk.  
“Hello Mr. Morris,” the secretary called to him.  
“Good afternoon Dudley,” Crutchie called without stopping.  
He pushed the door of Davey’s room open and saw the clock on the wall said half a minute to four.   
“Hey Dave.”   
He went over to where Davey was lying unconscious in his hospital bed. Crutchie kissed the top of Davey’s head twice and squeezed Davey’s right hand with his left. He went to the wall and got the brown chair beside the green one and pulled it beside the bed. He sat down and opened his bag. He pulled out a book.  
“Alright Dave, I’m sure you wanna know what happens next.” Crutchie giggled to himself. “Sorry. But I gotta tell you that today this kid….  
-  
“Alright guys, I gotta get going,” said Crutchie. He picked up his bag and the Secret Santa gift from Mush.  
“Aw, what?!” shouted Race. “You ain’t even had dinner yet.”  
“I gotta visit Davey.”  
“Hey, I was going to see him later tonight,” said Katherine. “I’ll drive you.”  
Crutchie looked at his watch. “Sure, thanks.”  
“Cool,” said Katherine. “We’ll leave in fifteen minutes.”  
Crutchie looked at his watch. “Yeah…okay.”  
“I made that cake myself!” said Race. “You gotta eat some before you go.”  
-  
“So,” Katherine said to Crutchie as she started the car, “They say he might wake up soon, right?”  
“Yeah.” Crutchie ran his hand over the handle of his crutch. “How long do you think the drive will be?”  
“I thought it was twenty minutes from Race’s? So we’ll probably get there at ten to four-ish.”  
“Just making sure.” Crutchie checked his watch.  
They pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.   
“What’s the first thing you’ll ask him when he wakes up?”  
“If,” whispered Crutchie. “I mean, why?”  
“Just curious.”  
“’What did you think of Age of Ultron?’”  
Katherine looked at him.  
“You know, he was driving back from seeing it with Les when he-” Crutchie paused. “I never got to hear if he liked it.”  
“Crap!” said Katherine.  
“What?”  
Crutchie looked at Katherine staring in front of her and then at the rows of traffic in front of them.  
Katherine took a deep sigh. “Well, this is going to take a while.” She leaned back in her seat.  
“No!” Crutchie looked at the clock on the dashboard. “How long do you think it’ll be?”  
“I don’t know.”  
Crutchie undid his seatbelt and moved forward in his seat.  
"Where’s the nearest subway station?”  
“We’ll get there eventually.”  
The traffic started a slow movement.   
“We’ll be late.” Crutchie looked around.  
“No, they extended the visiting hours for Christmas.”  
“That doesn’t matter!”  
Katherine pulled over to the side of the street and parked the car.   
“Why did you stop?” asked Crutchie.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“We need to be there by four.”  
“Why? What happens if we’re not there by four?”  
“He won’t wake up!”  
“Crutchie…”  
“If we’re late, he’ll never wake up!” Crutchie tried the handle on his door. Locked.  
“Crutchie, what- I- why would you even think that?”  
“If I don’t get there by four, he dies. If I don’t kiss his head twice, he dies. If I don’t squeeze his hand, he dies. If I don’t read him four chapters, he dies!” Crutchie let go of the handle and fell back in his seat. “And I know it’s dumb and I know it’s just the OCD and I know it shouldn’t mean anything but if it does then it- well then it does.”  
“OCD?”  
“Obsessive compulsive dis-“  
“Yeah, I know what it means. But you don’t have OCD. I mean, I’ve seen you eat pizza off the floor. You’ve worn the same shirt for a week to prove you could.”  
“That’s not always how it- I don’t have time to explain. Can we please just go to the hospital?”  
“Not till I understand what’s going on. He’ll still be there. What do you mean you have OCD? Why didn’t I know? Who does know?”  
“Davey.”  
“Oh.”  
“And now he’s…I don’t know he’s not here to help and that’s selfish to say and-” Crutchie started choking back tears. “And it’s my fault!”  
“You weren’t even in the car.”  
Crutchie wiped his right sleeve over his eyes. “I didn’t say goodbye before he left. I was in the shower and he went to the movies with Les and I didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t even yell so he could hear.”  
Katherine moved closer. “Can I hug you?”  
Crutchie nodded and Katherine wrapped her arms around him.  
“I was doing okay,” said Crutchie. “Everything was okay and then- And now Les might not have a brother. You and the guys lose a friend and I lose… and I could have stopped it. If I wasn’t so careless I could have stopped it.”  
“Crutchie.”  
“Yeah?”  
“I’m not really sure what the right thing to say is, but I know Davey would never want you to blame yourself.”  
“I know.” Crutchie wiped his eyes again.  
Katherine pulled away and put her seatbelt on. “And, I’m going to get you to the hospital.”


End file.
